


They Call Him Ace

by tulomne



Category: Haikyuu!!, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Datekougyou | Date Tech, Gen, Kind of that arc, M/M, Old Republic AU, Star Wars AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 09:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6748102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tulomne/pseuds/tulomne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asahi is a Jedi, and there is a wall, a great wall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Call Him Ace

**Author's Note:**

> I had a thought of “what if Asahi went dark side” and it all went downhill from there. Timeline is probably somewhere in the Old Republic, maybe before the Jedi Civil War...
> 
> Also art: http://tulomnedraws.tumblr.com/post/143875718255

They call him Ace.

They call him Ace because he is powerful.

Jedi don’t pick favorites, Jedi don’t designate leaders. But when a Jedi can change the course of battle, can defend their allies and strengthen their wills to fight by force alone, they stand out.

Asahi has battle meditation, and he stands out.

Now, Jedi are a collection. Jedi are not ranked beyond mastery and council. But Asahi is strong and inspiring and his name is whispered among the halls of the temple on Coruscant

Asahi is strong. Asahi is powerful. Asahi is just.

Here’s the thing: Asahi is driven by fear.

He is always the first to question and always the last to speak and he jumps when his fellow Jedi sneak up on him despite feeling their presence long before doing so.

It was a mistake to bring him to the Iron Wall.

Asahi is no guardian. Asahi is no sentinel. He is a consular.

Consulars meditate. Consulars discuss and plan and stay far from the fields of battle. Far from the endless rows of thickly armored droids that advance mercilessly upon its diminishing resistance, firing round after round of blaster fire into citizens and soldiers alike. But Asahi is Strong and Asahi is Unstoppable and Asahi is sent to the front lines to lend his aid.

It could be said he was the fault for the deaths of many.

It could be said that Master Sugawara spent three days afterwards organizing funerals and contacting families and calming his shaking nerves because that’s what consular Masters do. Meditate. Discuss. Plan. Lead.

But jedi do not place blame. Jedi do not weep for those that have become one with the force, and they don’t spend time analyzing every mistake they made, every fault they have. Jedi do as the force bids, no matter what.

Asahi does not understand this.

He understands the silence of the fallen, the cries of families that can never see their loves’ faces again, and the pit that has formed deep in his gut.

And Noya. Young Noya. Still braided Noya, can see it.

He could also see the look in his comrade’s eyes when he gave up. Could feel his force subsiding without his Ace’s aid, despite their commands to try again,  _ try again _ . Could smell the burnt scent of blaster fire against flesh as the droids fired without hesitation against their retreating forces. He sees the weight on Asahi’s shoulders when he finds him back on Coruscant.

And Noya, he’s brash. He speaks out of line and lacks apology and restraint and he doesn’t realize the consequences of his actions until his lightsaber is sparking against Asahi’s.

And Asahi’s eyes - he’s given up again. He’s shouting and there are tears in his eyes but Noya knows, Noya knows that he’s already gone. And so his lightsaber slashes through one of the great velvet curtains that adorn the wide hallway, silence echoing in the ripple of fabric that collapses from the high ceiling. Younglings and Masters watch on as Asahi turns his back, and leaves.

And that’s the end. Except it isn’t.

It echoes in Noya. Because Asahi was never suited for battle, never should have stepped foot onto the shuttle that took him far away from planning and meditation and discussion. He was always doing what’s right, even when he couldn’t. 

Noya can’t bear to belong to a place where people like Asahi can be used up and thrown away.

And Tanaka understands the need to go. He still has that urge, one from before his time as Noya’s mentor, before his padawan braid, taking his sister’s speeders out of their garage and racing her through the rocky canyonlands of his home planet. He remembers the bright sunsets, the hidden coves, the secret places that they would find. He understands the need to go, the need to see and feel and be alive somewhere where his thoughts can’t consume him, but _ never alone _ . 

And that’s why Tanaka bleeds concern, silently begging for Noya to stay while bidding him farewell.

The halls fall quiet in the passing weeks.

Master Sugawara pleads for the Small Giant to give him guidance, doesn’t completely understand how force ghosts work but sometimes he hears voices. Warnings. Be careful with that one. Hold him gently. He just might break.

Because he’s not ready for this. Not prepared for that something that lurks at the edges of his consciousness. A thought he never wants to finish, always on the tip of his tongue.

For he’s too kind. He’s Master Sugawara, call me Suga. He lets the younglings hang from his arms and sit on his robes and he tells them stories of the great Jedi that came before.

He doesn’t tell the endings to some of them.

Far away from reality and home, Asahi can’t sleep.

His eyes seem locked open, always watching, watching, watching. Smoke and fire fill his lungs and he spends his nights with the bodies of those fallen under his decisions. But he is better alone, better where his faults do not cause the deaths of others. His face has grown pale and spotted with veins and his eyes are sickly and he knows what’s happening but doesn’t dare voice it, it was inevitable either way.

Maybe this is better. To rot away than infect anyone else with the poison filling his blood and turning his thoughts to ash. Better than waking up one day to find his lightsaber slashed through something far less forgiving than velvet.

On the far edges of space, Noya searches for answers to questions he doesn’t have.

The force still calls to him and he answers it hesitantly, traveling far from Coruscant to a distant Republic base. To someone with powers like Asahi’s. Someone who might be able to fix what went wrong. There’s a pilot. Somewhere on the base, and Noya will stop at nothing to find them.

But Noya is brash and speaks out of line and things do not go over well.

The navy captain is sturdy and intimidating and holds a major dislike to Noya’s invasive personality. And Noya lacks restraint and is almost on a one way trip back to Coruscant, possibly in cuffs, when Tanaka is there because of course he is. Tanaka has always been there, following one step behind because you never travel alone even if you think you do. And Captain Sawamura softens at his mention of Master Sugawara’s council, before pointing Noya towards their new recruits.

Tanaka stays behind. Because Daichi is a pilot. And before Noya and before the Jedi Tanaka had taken his speeder around that tiny rock he grew up on and dreamt of one day shooting off into space.

Hinata is bright and bubbly and the most force sensitive pilot Noya’s ever met. Other than his comrade, who lurks in the background but conveys his interest to Noya telepathically.

They seem to do that a lot. Every thought of Hinata’s is two fold: once out loud and once to his partner. The two are inexperienced and chaotic and carry an energy that’s infectious to all those around them. Noya loves it.

Asahi is at the Iron Wall, although he is not sure why.

Perhaps he wants to destroy it, destroy himself in the process, rid the world of this stain he’s become. His force floods his veins like a static shock. The more he had tried to tear it from himself, the stronger it became, fueled by lost thoughts and regret. It feels like a bomb. He’s running out of time. Needs to find a place to detonate.

But things never go as planned, and he has company.

Jedi storm the Wall, lightsabers flashing and blasters shooting and this is  _ wrong _ . Asahi can see his companions from the hideaway he resides in. Noya and Tanaka and Master Suga and even the two new recruits - the blonde and the freckled one. They’re so young and they don’t deserve what is about to happen to them.

The droids march on and the Jedi are fearless, even when their numbers begin to diminish. Asahi sobs and tears at his hair and how could he watch this happen again to those he loves?

But suddenly the air is full of blaster fire and X-wings flood the sky, led by a orange haired pilot who’s  _ screaming _ across everyone’s minds. Bright joyous sounds that push everyone forward forward  _ forward _ . And there’s a rumbling too, a low push of confidence that must be of the second pilot that weaves in and out of Hinata’s formations.

Asahi watches from his spot as the tide of battle shifts within the Jedi, growing stronger and pushing back and  _ winning _ , and that’s when he hears it, a phrase pushed from one pilot to another.

_ Losing isn’t a choice, but running away is. _

Of course. It’s so simple. Kageyama and Hinata dive dangerously close to the enemy, raining down fire upon the droids. They don’t look back and they don’t doubt themselves and they don’t run away. Because if they’re going to be defeated it’s going to be ripped from their bodies with their last breaths, not given up willingly.

There’s a swell in the force that surrounds the Jedi, like a giant bubble waiting to burst. All it needs is a small push. It calls to Asahi, begging to be moved as he once had.

Jedi do as the force bids, and Asahi understands that.

And they fight. They push and scramble for purchase but their fleet is strong and Asahi’s powers mix with the two pilots and they fight and they  _ win _ . The Wall crumbles.

It’s a long shuttle back to Coruscant. Asahi sits far from the others, hood covering his face. He knows the veins are fading, knows that there’s a word for what he did today and it’s called redemption, but Asahi is scared and old habits die hard.

And Noya can see it. Which is why he spends the time by Asahi’s side, close enough to touch but never doing so until he can practically hear Asahi begging him to. So he slips his hand into Asahi’s for the rest of the trip.

There’s celebration back at the temple, Jedi and pilots alike attending. Hinata and Tanaka chase the younglings around the enclave. Tsukki and Yamaguchi retire early, but not before inclining their heads towards their fellow Jedi. Kageyama fidgets under Master Sugawara’s cool gaze, only fully relaxing when Captain Sawamura joins the two to thoroughly fluster the Jedi.

The velvet curtains still drape from the ceiling. One is torn, but mended. Because sometimes you have to be reminded of where you were to know where you are.

And Asahi stands beside Noya, hand clasped in his, on their first night home in a long time.

 

They call him Ace.

They call him Ace because he is powerful.

And Asahi is strong and inspiring and his name is shouted through the skies like a battlecry.

Asahi is scared. Asahi is strong. Asahi is just.

Because here’s the thing: Asahi is driven by love.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry I turned Date Tech into a bunch of droids. Please forgive me.


End file.
